Caesar Pasta Salad

The perfect summer pasta salad with a delicious creamy cashew dressing.

10 minutes prep

20 minutes cook

Serves 4

Mia Jacobs

Ingredients

Cashew Caesar dressing

100gcashews, soaked for 10 mins in boiling water

1 tbspcapers

1garlic clove

2 tspdijon mustard

1.5 tbspnutritional yeast

a pinchwhite pepper

1 tspwhite miso

100mlcold water

1 tbspvegan mayo

1-2 tbsplemon juice

Roasted mushrooms

2portobello mushrooms

1 tbspolive oil

to tastesalt and freshly cracked black pepper

Breadcrumbs

30gpanko breadcrumbs

1-2 tbspolive oil

to tastesalt

To assemble

250gpasta, fusilli or shell

2baby gems, roughly chopped

to garnish(optional) vegan parmesan

It's letter I of Alphabetti, an A-Z of Twisted pastas. And as there aren't any pasta shapes or dishes beginning with I we've gone for Insalata (salad, in Italian). And we all know that the mother of all salads is a Caesar. This one is packed with pasta to make it the ultimate picnic, pot luck or quick lunch dish. The dressing is really special, made with cashews and a bunch of other delicious seasonings.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Drain the cashews then add to a high powered blender with the rest of the ingredients for the dressing. Blend until completely smooth and adjust seasonings to taste.

Tear the mushrooms into bitesize pieces then drizzle with oil, season and place into the oven to roast for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the pasta in heavily salted water according to packet instructions. You don't want it to be al dente as rinsing it will stop the cooking and leave the pasta firmer.

Once cooked, drain and rinse in cool water.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium low heat. Add the panko breadcrumbs and a pinch of salt and mix to coat the crumbs in the oil. Toast, stirring frequently, until the breadcrumbs are amber.

Add the cooked pasta, dressing, lettuce and roasted mushrooms (leaving a few to garnish) into a large mixing bowl and mix to coat in the dressing.

Serve topped with more mushrooms, the breadcrumbs and some vegan parmesan or cashews blitzed to a fine crumb (a really nice parm alternative) and enjoy!!

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Mia Jacobs

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Mia is a self-taught cook with an obsession with street food and an absolute hatred for parsnips. Before joining Twisted Green, Mia founded an online vegan cooking school in the midst of the global pandemic and began teaching people all over the world how to cook incredible vegan food from the comfort of their own homes. Her mission was, and still is, to help transform kitchens everywhere from a daunting space to one that’s filled with the irresistible aroma of frying garlic, and some very special plant-based grub. She also believes that crisps and hummus are a gift to humanity.